The tv commercial I worked on in May has been on air for a while so now I can finally post the red bag animation I did for SureWest! The most fun part of this freelance job was animating the floppy handles. I think I got them a bit too "rubber bandy" in spots, but that's okay. Client liked it. I was so excited because this was my first ever freelance character job. Woo! I'm only showing what I worked on here, which was used for the intro and outro of the spot. It's not perfect, so let me know your notes for the next time I do a paper sack!
I totally lucked out with the bike. It was a big bummer the mountain bike I wanted was out of stock, but I convinced the guy at the bike shop to give me the same deal on a better one, with components that are quite a few steps higher than my original choice. I'm still recovering from my crash, so I can't ride for reals yet, but I did get on (with helmet) and spin around the court in front of my house. I noticed the pain in my right wrist after only a few minutes with my weight on the handlebars, so it will be a while before I can go for a serious ride (plus I have to work up to it). I have never owned a "real" bike before, so this is a serious upgrade, and will probably last years (if dogs stay out from under my wheels!). After the let down with the other bike this is more like it!
Got a postcard saying the bike I ordered is not happening. Same luck as everything else, I suppose. I keep trying though. I haven't found another one in my price range. Maybe the sign says Don't get a bike. We'll see.
I'm officially not going to return right away to AnimationMentor to re-take Class 6. Nothing has improved in the past month and there's just not a way for me to focus on that right now. It will be lucky if I can get some things ironed out enough to return for the Winter session in January. Meanwhile, it would be great to get some practice in, but my mouse/pen hand is still killin'. It's getting better but seems to have hit a plateau. Should be alright soon, though.
Workers in Sacramento County have been on strike for the past week, so I was really relieved I got my paycheck last week. I had wondered if IHSS staff were also striking. With no response from any of the people I've called or written about my IHSS mess, I phoned my case worker's supervisor yesterday. On her voicemail greeting she said, "I will be out of the office on strike...until we have a contract." Nice. Plus convenient.
I wish I could go on strike whenever my employer subjects me to BS. But can you imagine what would happen if caregivers went on stike? A lot of elderly and disabled people would go hungry, get sick, or hurt. Some of them would die. Most caregivers, however, are taking care of family members, and I doubt any would leave the person they take care of. The state and county know this, and it's one of their pocket aces that allows them to get away with crap. I/we fully have reasons to strike, but it's just not an option.
So instead of getting results I just have to wait around until the county workers' contract is settled, extending even further the already long, drawn-out ordeal of getting IHSS to pay wages they owe me back to April. It's been about 5 months, what's another 3 weeks?
In the middle of all this crazy stuff going on, I got a nice surprise last week! Local AnimationMentor AMigos Konrad and Justin stopped by with some goodies from them and other buddies at school! Konrad made a nice card and every-buddy signed wishing me a speedy recovery from my bike smash. Just the day before I got an surprise box delivered to my door. It was from Alison, and inside a really nice book with amazing illustrations by Shaun Tan. Since then I've been getting email from other classmates wishing me well as they hear about my mishap, also cool, since I'm not on campus anymore (waa). Thanks everyone, it felt great to have a bit of "yay!"Saturday I finally got my first "full" paycheck from IHSS, which was for work in August. The July one was screwed up and they only paid me half, and April through June I didn't get any pay at all! Grr. At least the August check was right. As if that wasn't enough, I finally got the final payment for a freelance job I did in May! Yay! I almost felt like I won the lottery or something. Okay, it wasn't nearly like that, but it was a good week, anyway.The bike I wiped out on wasn't damaged in the crash, but it's not a very good bike. I've been planning for some time to upgrade and for a while I was very interested in these chainless bikes. Trouble is, practically nobody has ever heard of them and guys at nearly all the bike shops I went to seemed to hate the idea of a bike with no chain, less maintenance, no grease, and smoother shifting. You would think it's cuz they make their living fixing standard chain-driven bikes...oh wait, they do. Hmm. Well, since I couldn't dig up enough key info, not to mention my own concerns about the bikes, I decided to order a regular mountain bike from IronHorse. I didn't go crazy with one of their pricier bikes, but the bike I'm getting has fairly decent components and it's going to be a gigantic step up in quality from my department-store bike. By the time the shop gets the bike in and built (about 2 weeks) I should be healed enough to start riding again.
I've never been this badly injured. Even doing bike stunts as a kid I was careful...-ish. I always saw friends or relatives slam into the pavement or fall out of a tree and break a, uh...limb (I know, puns hurt) and I didn't like how it sorta cancelled playtime. Not to mention the sudden, overwhelming sensation of ow. I fell off my bike a lot, and skateboard too, but the worst I ever got was a chipped tooth. Shamefully, I can't even boast this bash was the result of catching some air or blazing down challenging terrain. I wasn't doing a cool trick or anything, just running over a dog (which was unhurt).
Having limited use of both hands has sorta given me a direct--you could say first hand (hahaha)--experience of what people with permenant disabilities or arthritis (like my parents) go through all the time. Just doing normal things has been a big challenge. I've been trying to be careful because of the pain, but the other day I re-ouched my right wrist. It was beginning to feel a bit better but I put a little too much pressure on it one time, and OWW! Then I did it again last night, when I turned and bumped a table with the Sharpie I was holding. I've gone back to my rx pain reliever, but taking much less than the original dose, and it is working better giving some relief without side effects. Still takin' it easy, trying to be careful but healing seems on track.
I totally lucked out with the bike. It was a big bummer the mountain bike I wanted was out of stock, but I convinced the guy at the bike shop to give me the same deal on a better one, with components that are quite a few steps higher than my original choice. I'm still recovering from my crash, so I can't ride for reals yet, but I did get on (with helmet) and spin around the court in front of my house. I noticed the pain in my right wrist after only a few minutes with my weight on the handlebars, so it will be a while before I can go for a serious ride (plus I have to work up to it). I have never owned a "real" bike before, so this is a serious upgrade, and will probably last years (if dogs stay out from under my wheels!). After the let down with the other bike this is more like it!
